Say what? When your spine falls out, life will be very unpleasant. Can you imagine, your spine falls out, eliminating protection of the spinal cord and spinal nerves at the same time your ability to stand upright is over? No more posture, no more flexibility, no more nerve control of everything from movement to digestion of your food. On an “unpleasant scale”, this is a 10 out of 10. The good news is your spine can’t “fall out.” The bad news is, it can degenerate, become fixated and immobilized, it can force you to hunch over after the pain of wear and tear sets it. Sound terrible? It is. We see it everyday. People come in with terrible pain and immobility, health issues and complaints. Their issues seemingly came out of nowhere, but that’s only because they didn’t feel them materializing. These are predictable problems from neglecting the spine. Forget the pain for a moment and consider the disability. Unable to work, unable to make dinner, unable to play with kids, grandkids, earn a living and care for your family. Unable to enjoy your retirement. This is not intended to scare you, it’s intended to warn you. Much like...

If you miss this health opportunity today, you will NEVER have the chance for it again. In recent years the average American lifespan has been somewhere in the neighborhood of 78 years. That’s 28,470 days. When you do the math, it’s easy to calculate roughly how much time you have left if you are lucky. Now, we’re all the product of all of our lives decisions. “We are the sum of our parts.” You will never get this day back, you will never have the opportunity to start something good on this day, ever again. Late is always better than never, but early is much better than late. People who are struggling, suffering, hurting, not sleeping, depressed, frustrated, sick all the time, they, you, won’t get these days back. The opportunity fo today is not coming back. You will never again have the opportunity to call a chiropractor TODAY. There is a saying in Chinese, “Talk doesn’t cook the rice.” YOU have to TAKE ACTION, for things to happen. Thinking about it is only “potential energy.” Science has shown us that getting adjusted by a chiropractor impacts far more than just your back. Your brain, your nervous system, your spinal healthy,...

WHAT’S THE BEST PILLOW TYPE FOR YOUR SLEEP POSITION THAT WON’T COST $100+? The cost of the best pillow does not necessarily equate to a more supportive or better functioning pillow. More money doesn’t mean better. IF you sleep on your stomach, a thin pillow will be the best pillow. But you should know, this is the worst sleep position for your neck, head and shoulders. Stomach sleeping wrinkles your face, twists your neck and spine, puts pressure on spinal nerves and often leads to headaches, neck pain, shoulder pain and even numbness in the arms. IF you are a side sleeper, a big square pillow that spans the distance from the bed to your ear, with your neck remaining straight, is the way too go! These pillows are expected to hold your head in a straight, neutral position when you are on your side in a fetal position. If you head is propped too far up or sinks down too far, the pillow is not what is best for your side sleeping position. The Best Option! IF you sleep on your back, a size appropriate contour pillow, memory foam or not, will support your neck and promote...

When your chiropractor retires, 4 easy steps will find you a new one. Chiropractors are more than doctors, they almost feel like family. When they retire, people are left with not knowing where to go. At first they feel irreplaceable, which they are, but if you look around carefully, you can usually find a chiropractor that you love to carry on the legacy of your retired chiropractor’s work! Here’s what you need to do to find the next chiropractic office that is the best fit for you: Get a recommendation from your retiring chiropractor. They know you well, they may know the best office for you! Take a tour of potential offices that you like the looks of. Call the office and kick the tires. Meet the staff and check out how they operate. Meet the doctor before you make an appointment. It’s important that you are able too make an informed decision regarding who you will entrust with your health. Meet them, question them, then judge them. Choose the doctor that resonates with you. Read reviews. Online reviews speak volumes. Real people, local people who have insight into your potential choice. Read them and listen to them, see...

Teachers Deserve More. While many say that a child’s greatest (or worst) education is at home, teachers mean the world to our families and our children. Despite fatigue, stress, wear, tear and premature aging, they relentlessly do their best to educate our children. It’s fair to say they do a great job, but when their health suffers, so does the community at large. My wife is a teacher. My father taught for over 40 years. My mother was a teacher. I was and am lucky enough to have teachers at home and at school. Not all kids are so lucky. The health of our children’s teachers directly impacts our homes and our communities. They deserve more. The four most important things in life are on the other side of this link. If you are a teacher, you are on vacation this week. Even though many of you are catching up on school work, it’s still a rest from bending over, looking downward and hunching over students. Hopefully, you have a break from grading papers, the stress of children’s issues, a break from over concerned parents and juggling your own life at home with your life at school. Do you...

When you have vertigo and your ENT doesn’t know what to do, call Dr. Lou. Vertigo is a feeling of being off balance. It also ruins lives. If you have been unable to get relief, there may still be hope. The most common causes of vertigo are related to the inner ear. In Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo, little crystals in the ear called canaliths move abnormally or get stuck in the canal of the ear and send erratic messages to the brain. The result is a disturbance of balance. With Meniere’s Disease, another cause of vertigo, this inner ear disorder is caused by a change in pressure of the fluid in the inner ear, leading to nerve communication interference, which leads to symptoms. This can cause vertigo and ringing in the ears (tinnitus). Vestibular neuritis, also known as labyrinthitis, is most commonly related to a viral infection. The inflammation that results from the infection aggravates nerves in the ear that are important in controlling your brain’s sense of balance. Like with all problems, proper diagnosis is critical as the causes of vertigo go beyond these three “most common.” As you have seen, the three most common causes involve obstruction...

Side effects are not side effects. They are (less common) effects. IF you’ve read the previous posts about chronic pain, you know that chiropractic is concerned with brain and nerve science, that the body heals itself, this healing is controlled by the brain, interference in the nerves called subluxation is bad, and correction of the interference in that system allows for the body to heal itself at maximum capacity. Side effects are a lie. They are a manipulation of words to make it sound like less likely effects of drugs don’t matter. They only “don’t matter” if you don’t have them. Side effects are effects. They are common with drugs and surgery, and while those are necessary at times, for chronic pain, they don’t often correct the cause in a way that sets you up for success. Research published in a number of medical journals has shown that chiropractic adjustments affect your brain function. Your prefrontal cortex, responsible for mood, emotions, mental organization, anxiety, stress, personality, environmental processing of people and situations, and a host of other functions are all often positively affected by chiropractic. In 2016, research was published in The Journal of Integrative Neuroscience that showed how chiropractic adjustments...

Why should you bother with another chiropractor for your chronic pain? You have one life, don’t give up yet, try again. Why should you see a chiropractor if you’ve already seen one and seen every other provider known to man? Don’t give up, there’s reason to be hopeful. Much like Chinese restaurants in Maine, one that suits your needs is often very hard to find, the best one is out there, you just have to find them. Don’t stop seeking help for your chronic pain, just try something different. You can’t see what you aren’t looking for. Some chiropractors do what other doctors do. They focus on the pain. They focus on the symptom, which is the chronic pain. They try to apply electrical tape to the oil light in your car, masking the symptom but not addressing the cause adequately or at all. Many pain medications that also mask the chronic pain, also have undesirable side effects like erectile dysfunction, decreased libido, and a host of others. Is chronic pain depressing you to the point of taking anti-depressants? Those medications often lead to weight gain, adding another stressor to many people’s lives. Addressing the cause of the pain may lead...

How to regain control of your body’s ability to heal chronic pain. Take a guess. What organ controls healing in your body? We discussed this in the last blog. What organ would be responsible for coordinating and activating the healing of your chronic pain? The answer is the brain. The brain sends messages through the nerves to heal injuries and illnesses, everything from broken bones to the flu. It’s not the cast or the theraflu that heals, it’s your body under the direction of the brain. There is a “life force” that living beings have that is required to heal. After all, dead people with cuts and broken bones won’t heal no matter how much medicine you pump into them. While this seems obvious, it’s often forgotten when it comes to dealing with chronic pain. Our body is meant to be healthy, it was designed to heal itself, the process though, needs to be unobstructed, without interference. When the brain’s control over healing is at it’s best, you have the best chance of overcoming chronic pain. The fact is, nerves and brain communication that is interfered with, is one contributor to chronic pain not healing. It’s often the missing...

Why is healing and regulation of chronic pain in your body failing? What is causing the failure to heal chronic pain in your body? Since your chronic pain started, you’ve likely cut yourself, been sick or otherwise injured yourself in another way, in another location. It healed. Your body healed itself. Your body is designed to heal itself. Have you asked yourself why that problem (cut finger) healed but your chronic pain has not? The answer is may be that there is an obstruction, an interference that is preventing perfect healing from taking place. If a doctor finds that interference or obstruction, and corrects it, you should be able to heal. In order to understand obstruction and interference, you have to be aware of what is in control of healing the body. Your brain is the master controller of the body that organizes and implements the healing process throughout your body. In fact it’s in control of everything that happens in your body. Interference in brain control over the healing process often occurs with nerve irritation at the level of the spinal joints. This irritation decreases the brain’s capacity to heal. You experience this as chronic pain that never goes away, even...